Michael Spinks beats Larry Holmes on this day 1985

Spinks really did school Holmes in the first fight, he did an excellent job of taking away Holmes’s jab With lateral movement and upper body movement and using his own jab and getting in suddenly getting his punches off and getting out of there and he made Holmes hesitant to throw

 

I have to admit, though Spinks mostly looked like a some kind of ridiculous clown in both fights, he did succeed in taking away the Holmes jab in the first one. And the bizarre, herky-jerky clown thing was obviously concocted to give Larry a different look (or set of looks) throughout the fight. Larry never did good against that kind of fighter; he preferred straightforward guys whom didn't take too long to figure out.

The thing that's not as impressive is the fact that Larry hadn't really had the same jab he'd wielded in his prime for something like three years at the time. He hesitated from pulling the trigger because he was getting older. His hand speed had definitely taken a turn for the worse, and he hadn't acclimated his style to the change like he did later in the 90s.

It's seriously doubtful the Holmes who slapped the **** out of Neon Leon would have let Michael do much better...maybe 5 rounds instead of 3. Spinks would have been hit a lot more often and, though Holmes wasn't a great puncher, the cumulative effect of his punches would have worn this born light-heavweight down in short order.

Though Larry is my favorite fighter, I've had him losing by two points every time I've watched the fight. MIchael just plain outworked him. It took a completely off-the-wall fighter to beat the long-undefeated champ, and that's what Michael brought. Of course, I don't think Holmes was hurt even once in either fight.

I had Holmes ahead by four in the second, one of boxing's great robberies imo.

 

He certainly had a unique style of fighting!